Burkman, a cast member from The Ultimate Fighter’s second season, was originally slated to face Alves (10-3 MMA, 4-2 UFC) at UFC Fight Night. However, after Alves scored a decisive and dominating win over Tony DeSouza at last weekend’s UFC 66 event, the fighter tested positive for a banned substance. A urinalysis conducted by the Nevada State Athletic Commission picked up trace amounts of spironolactone, a diuretic.

According to a story posted by The Fight Network, Alves has already apologized for the failed test:

Ã¢â?¬Å?Alves called me yesterday afternoon. To his credit, Alves admitted heÃ¢â?¬â?¢d taken the diuretic to lose a couple of pounds before the weigh-in, unaware it was a non-approved substance,Ã¢â?¬Â says NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer, who clarified Alves did not test positive for steroids.

I respect Alves for coming clean, and I hope his excuse is a valid one. It’s just a shame that such a dominant UFC 66 win that could have had huge implications on his contender status will now be wiped off the records for such a stupid reason. When he originally decided to take the Jan. 25 fight against Burkman — which would have taken place just four weeks after his fight at UFC 66 — I was thoroughly impressed.

With his “fight-anytime” mentality and his ability to man up and admit wrong, I do hope Alves is given a second chance. He deserves one.

But back to the fight at hand.

Burkman, one of my dark-horse candidates to make some rumblings in the welterweight division (despite the fact that I always call him Jason Burkman for some reason), would have gotten a real test against Alves. He’ll now face Reiner, a UFC newcomer whose only career loss was suffered to Dustin Hazelett, who fought this past October on the UFC’s Ortiz vs. Shamrock III television special. Reiner fights out of Omaha’s MidAmerica Martial Arts and has beaten some quality opponents.

Here’s the latest rumored UFC Fight Night 8 fight card from MMAWeekly.com (all confirmed bouts can be found at UFC.com and are designated with an asterisk(*) below):

As the UFC 189 tour made its last stop in Dublin, featherweight champ Jose Aldo was met with a torrent of abuse from the Irish fans. It might have been unpleasant, but it might also have been just what he needed.